After a client has bought your product or service when do you start re-marketing activity to encourage a further purchase? For me this process should start the very same day your customer buys from you for the first time. Let me explain.
I’m at that time of year where insurances need renewing for the business. After meeting a very pleasant insurance broker some time ago at a networking meeting I said I would be interested in receiving a quote from her. At the time renewal was months ahead but I gave her the details nonetheless so she had them on file to create a like for like quote.
Just before the earliest date for quoting (which need to be within 30 days of renewal I think), she called to confirm a few details and agreed to come back to me with a like for like quote which she did. During her initial questions though it became clear that part of our business was not covered. This was because the previous broker at renewal didn’t call to reconfirm our details, they simply sent the renewal proposal and as it had been a similar price to the previous year we had just accepted it. I see now we just opted for convenience.
Our new broker has provided quotes now based on our current business, she has confirmed with insurers whether our future plans as we outlined may be an issue for them and she has adjusted the cover to reflect our current contents, (our current computers alone have a value 4 times what we were previously covered for). All this has been done throughout lockdown. The broker has been patient and overall jolly nice to deal with.
Back to our existing broker. Now I have no gripes about the person dealing with us there, I am sure she is very nice. When I have asked a question, (eg at the start of the Covid crisis when I asked if we had business disruption cover which insured us against this) then she did come back to me. After I chased, and after more than three weeks.
It has taken me almost as long to get confirmation of our claims history from the broker too. This was after they told us there were none despite the fact they dealt with one for us in 2018! Details came after I persisted. After emailing today to confirm we would not be renewing the broker said she was sorry we would not be renewing and asked whether there was something they could do to change my mind. Can you guess what I said?
For me, the “marketing” to encourage us to renew our policy with them should have begun when this policy started, confirming we were happy with the cover, perhaps a call mid year to check no material facts have changed which may expose us to uninsured risk. A courtesy call prior to sending a renewal quote to confirm again that details remain current and respond to enquiries promptly. It sounds like a long list but I don’t feel it is and it’s no different to how we aim to work as a business. Looking after clients and ensuring they are happy. As we have done many years previously, if the service was good we would have renewed regardless of the quote as it is so much more convenient but, as it happened they’ve done us a favour. We’re saving around 40% on our renewal price for more cover, and cover that actually reflects our current business!
If you would like an introduction to Beki to see if she can help you then I’d be delighted to do that. If like me you’re not the type to remember in four months who it was you needed to speak to about insurance then make contact now and Beki will diarise a call, I am sure she will be delighted to hear from you.
